|
21. Pesticides Control in Kazakhstan
by Ms. L. Pak
Before the presentation of my paper I would like to express my
deepest gratitude to UNEP and the Government of the United Arab Emirates which
organised this workshop on Persistent organic Pollutants and for inviting me.
As you may know the Republic of Kazakhstan is a country of the
former Soviet Union. Therefore all pesticides which were used in the Soviet
Union had certainly also been used in Kazakhstan.
The importance of pesticides in the agriculture of a nation can
not be over emphasized because pesticides help control diseases insects and
weeds i.e. to protect crop yield. Data on pesticide use and crop yield show a
positive correlation between pesticide use and crop yield. That(s why the
question of who is using them, which pesticides, in what amounts and for what,
are very important for us to consider.
The Republic of Kazakhstan has 35 million square hectares, and
out of these, 20 million hectares are fertilised. Previously, the pesticides
used in Kazakhstan covered a land area of about 18 - 20 millions hectares.
Before, the volume of used pesticides was approximately 35 thousands tonnes of
200 different kinds of pesticides. Over the past few years this was reduced to
10 million hectares, and 80% of these were organochlorine pesticides.
The average annual rate of pesticide use almost doubled in the
10 years from 1962 to 1972 and was expected to double again before 1994 and by
1995 it was 13,6 thousands tonnes. This was one of the reasons why Kazakhstan
had so many cases of hazardous effects on the health of the population during
that time. In 1986, the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan announced publicly
about citizens that had been poisoned by organochlorine pesticides.
From 1990 to 1997, pesticide use decreased about two times
because up to 1992 the government financed the campaigns against serious insects
such as the locust and the Colorado Beetle, as well as an array of exotic pests.
Now farmers have to finance the purchase of pesticides themselves and also have
to economise on their use because of the higher prices. Therefore it is not
surprising why the load usage on 1 ha of land decreased 2,5 times between 1987
(0,57 kg ingredient/ha) and 1995 - 0,21 kg active ingredient. In 1997, the
average use was 0,13 kg ha. From this, it can be seen that the adverse effects
on the Health of the population and the environment have decreased. Also the use
of organochlorine pesticides have decreased.
Until 1980 organochlorine pesticides like DDT and HCH and
others, had been widely used in Kazakhstan. They were some of the primary
insecticides used. The effect of pesticides extends also to the agricultural
system as a whole. During and after the application of the pesticides, they may
be transported by wind or water to neighboring areas, resulting in a hazardous
concentration in surface water and in soils. Long term effects can be expected
when persistent organochlorine pesticides that do not decay easily or disappear
by volatilisation or absorption are used. In this case, the DDT and HCH are
concentrated and highly absorbed into particular rivers, lakes, sediment and
soils.
The data of the Ministry of Health in 1985 showed that the
Syr-Darya river water contained a concentration of DDT, DDD, and DDE in a range
from 0,2 to 11,4 (g/l). That is why a lot of fish were poisoned. This high
concentration was caused by accidents. The average concentration in fish was
about 200 (g/l.
In 1986 the Ministry of Agriculture reported about extraordinary
cases of poisoning of fish again. 0,4 percentage of research samples from
various fish-farms contained a residual level of organochlorine pesticides over
the maximum permissible rate. Data of the Ministry of Health showed that DDT and
HCH were over the permissible levels being detected at a rate of 0,4 percent in
the water samples from fish-farms. Animal milk was contaminated by DDT and HCH ,
too.
The use and dispersion of Organochlorine pesticides such as DDT,
HCH and others over a long period of time polluted from 10-20 percent of soil in
Kazakhstan. It was proven again in 1994. 12000 soil samples were analysed and
were shown to contain organochlorinic pesticides. 15 percent of the samples were
contaminated by DDT, HCH or their derivatives.
Unfortunately, the monitoring did not cover the last 4 years.
HCH became banned in 1986, but HCH was included in a special list of pesticides
which were permitted to be used as a part of a mix of several pesticides.
These are the reasons why lindane occurs widely in a range of
living organisms, including humans as it circulates in the Environment.
Fortunately endrin, aldrin and dieldrin have never been used in Kazakhstan in
Agriculture, but endosulfan and dicofol have been used as insecticides for a
long time in Kazakhstan. Now these pesticides are also banned.
In 1996 on the basis of many requests from specialists in the
Republic Station for Plant Protection, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of
the Environment and according to the data of the UNEP, the Republic Commission
for Testing and Registration of chemicals, biological Protection means,
pheromones and growth regulators of Agriculture and forest vegetation, the
Government of Kazakhstan decided to inventory banned and spoiled pesticides. 150
out of approximately 574 tons were banned and restricted as very highly toxic
chemicals.
The Ministry of Health developed a special regulation to collect
and neutralize the above-mentioned pesticides. Every year twenty controls and
toxicological laboratory stations for Plant Protection have taken control of the
received, stored and unknown pesticides without labelling them in packaging
marked as dangerous. During control checks, it was discovered that 79 tonnes of
pesticides had been spoiled, due to the very bad conditions under which they had
been stored.
The disposal of banned and spoiled pesticides is much worse now
than it was 5 years ago. This diagram shows pesticide wastes and their disposal
over the last 10 years. In the last 2-3 years nothing has been done in terms of
pesticide disposal. The difficult economic situation has led to the use of
banned and spoiled pesticides illegally. But, I hope despite this fact that with
the help, experience and financial support of International organisations, and
our efforts we can resolve this serious world-wide problem together.
The above-mentioned control and toxicological laboratory carries
out toxic control over the use of received pesticides and also controls the
remaining pesticides in Plant products which are performed by technical
specialists, i.e. these laboratories act as managing departments in that they
oversee all pesticide use in the country.
The control and toxicological Laboratory of the Republic Station
for Plant Protection in Almaty creates and applies all methods for assessing
active ingredients in pesticides and sends these to the regional laboratories.
It manages the quality of received pesticides and their storage and the
remaining quantities in Agricultural products, and makes random analyses.
It also co-ordinates all the work carried out with other
departments concerning the regulation of pesticide use and studied the nature of
the effect of pesticides on the environment and on agricultural products.
Since toxicological certificates on agricultural products have
been issued by control and toxicological laboratories annually about 12000-13000
certificates on plant and food products have been distributed.
http://irptc.unep.ch/pops/POPs_Inc/proceedings/abu-dhabi/PAK.html |